Facebook and Instagram will launch their new Community Notes feature on March 18 in the U.S., allowing users “with more perspectives to add context to posts,” Meta announced on Thursday.
The feature will mirror the Community Notes feature used by Elon Musk’s X platform in recent years — right down to the name. Its launch comes two months after CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his company would roll out the feature to replace its third-party fact-checking operation.
“We expect Community Notes to be less biased than the third-party fact-checking program it replaces because it allows more people with more perspectives to add context to posts,” Meta said.
Along with Facebook and Instagram, Community Notes will also launch on Threads, the X-like social posting platform run by Meta. The company said it will not immediately start publishing its Community Notes, though, as it tests out the feature.
“We’re going to take time to do this right,” Meta said. “Around 200,000 potential contributors in the US have signed up so far across all three apps, and the waitlist remains open for those who wish to take part in the program.”
X’s Community Note feature allows users to add context to posts that may be misleading or false. The feature was first teased in 2021 under the name “Birdwatch,” before being rolled out to the masses after Musk bought Twitter in late 2022.
“Meta won’t decide what gets rated or written – contributors from our community will. And to safeguard against bias, notes won’t be published unless contributors with a range of viewpoints broadly agree on them,” the company said.
Meta’s Community Notes will be limited to 500 characters, and will offer users the ability to submit notes on posts from users, politicians, public figures, and Meta executives like Zuckerberg. The company added that notes “won’t be published unless people who normally disagree decide that” the note “provides helpful context,” saying “this isn’t majority rules.”
Zuckerberg said in January that his company’s decision to scrap its third-party fact checking operation was about “restoring free expression” on Facebook and Instagram.
He said that, while Meta tried its best to accurately police content since it first introduced fact checking in late 2016, there had been too many errors. “We’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship,” Zuckerberg said. He then went on Joe Rogan’s podcast and compared its fact-checking operation to George Orwell’s dystopian novel, “1984.”
Meta’s initial Community Notes rollout will start in the U.S. next Tuesday.
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